Intimate Lessons
by Jonathan Priest
Summary: One Shot. During a waterbending lesson between Aang and Katara, Zuko discovers something unexpected in their training. Sokka is disturbed and Toph is highly amused. Just a fun little romp of Kataang goodness. Reviews appreciated.


**Intimate Lessons**

Sokka sat against his perch on the shore of the small lake, his continence an unconscionable scrutiny as he watched the pair practicing their waterbending exercises with an ever-building mistrust. For the better part of an hour, it had gone much the same way. Katara would instruct Aang on a new technique, advising in great detail on the proper stance and motion required to perfect the newest method of bending water for the Avatar's mastery of the element, only to see that Aang foolishly misinterpret her instructions and make a general mess of whatever new maneuver he was being shown.

To Sokka it seemed a waste of time. Aang had all but mastered waterbending already and still had earth and fire to fully perfect, and a _very_ short timetable with which to achieve this. Unless these new maneuvers were immeasurably potent and would help Aang defeat the Fire Lord, then Sokka didn't see the point in rehashing styles already taught.

'Playing in puddles', as affectionately referred to by the surly Toph, seemed an adequate description of what these two had been doing for the better part of the morning. It wasn't that Katara was working on sharpening Aang's skills at waterbending; Sokka could understand the merit of training, so long as it didn't cut into his lessons with his other masters. But seeing as how Aang seemed to be flubbing generally every technique shown to him, it seemed a waste of effort all around and drew Sokka's frustrated inspection.

What was most disconcerting for Sokka was that Katara continuously felt the need to move to the young man's side and demonstrate the proper direction by physically adjusting his arms or legs to the proper position. This caused an often-unsolicited blush to paint Aang's cheeks, cause a shy smile of contentment from Katara and cause a general seething from her older brother regarding the whole display. If he didn't know better, he'd have sworn Aang was flirting with her, intentionally messing up his stance to just be near her, and if not for his general frustration in failing to fulfill the simplest instructions and impress Katara through his diligent efforts, that's exactly what Sokka would have believed. Though whatever frustration Aang may have demonstrated quickly vanished when the beautiful young woman again moved to adjust his form.

"I can't figure out why I'm not getting this," Sokka heard the young Avatar groan in frustration, another blush stealing across his cheeks as Katara worked to bend his knees a little further.

"Don't worry, you'll figure it out _eventually_," Katara said in a tone that was not at all as innocent as her words implied, and if he had not been so concentrated on glaring at the pair in the knee deep water, Sokka would have missed the double-meaning all together. Even hearing it himself, he didn't quite believe what was revealed in his sister's tenor, and chose to err on the side of ignorance. Some things a brother should never know or hear.

But just as he turned to stand in an effort to leave whatever little game Aang and Katara were playing, the shuffling of footsteps along the craggy beach brought Sokka's attention to the new visitors making their way towards him.

"Are they still at it?" Toph exclaimed in exasperated words that bit harshly of her own discontentment at being put off for her own scheduled training session with the Avatar. "I was supposed to start his lessons two hours ago!"

As the earthbending master and exiled prince sat beside the young man from the Southern Water Tribe, they fell into a dutiful silence, surveying the training session with a look of complete disinterest. It was much the same for several minutes as the three friends studied the practice. Aang would work with the new lesson, grasping the fundamental basics of the form or style but not quite mastering it, causing Katara to again walk to his side, her fingers gliding over an arm or a leg, perhaps over his shoulder to arch him in a different angle as she corrected his stance, always while reassuring him that _he'll get it eventually_, and causing Sokka to desperately fight the urge to facepalm whenever it was said.

This went on for several minutes with Toph disgustedly blowing her bangs out of her face and Sokka desperately ignoring the tiny, nibbling over-protective urges to separate his sister and best friend. Zuko seemed fully disinterested however until something caught his attention, causing the former prince to sit up straighter.

"I don't believe it," he said in stunned incredulity, his eyes watching another episode of Katara's physical coaching as he shook head in response to whatever had caught his interest.

Sokka however seemed less than certain he knew what had drawn the exasperated reply from the firebender, or rather feigned ignorance for the sanctity of his own illusions that the pair training were fully innocent in the touches they exchanged. "What's the big deal? Katara's teaching a new technique and Aang's messing it up. Not like we haven't seen that before."

"You wouldn't understand because you're not a bender Sokka…"

"Ha ha," Toph taunted, much to Sokka's disgruntlement.

"Yeah, thanks for bringing that up, like the umpteenth time."

"What I'm saying Sokka is," Zuko continued cautiously, trying to get his point across while placating Sokka's wounded ego, yet at the same time struggling with how much he should reveal at what he's witnessed. "Aang isn't messing up his lesson. He's doing everything exactly how Katara's telling him to do it."

"What do you mean he's not messing up? Everything Katara's been showing him has been wrong and for the last hour I've been watching her correct his stance and arms and…" Sokka's words petered off into the ether of his own horror as the epiphany struck his acute mind with the full fury of a lightning strike. "You're saying…oh man…" His words were muffled by the facepalm he could no longer resist. It was one thing to suspect his sister was an active participant in the overly-physical nature of the training lessons, but to learn she was the instigator was more than he was either willing to accept or concede.

As the realization became commonly known, Toph launched herself into an explosive fit of laughter, clutching at her sides at the expense of Sokka's awkwardness. "So you're telling me you didn't know?" The Blind Bandit screamed in delight as she fought to catch her breath. "All this time and you had no clue? Why do you think he messes up so much when Katara's teaching him and not with us? It's not because he can't get it right, it's because she's telling him how to do it wrong so she can do all her touchy-feely corrections on him. Oh if you could hear how fast their hearts beat when she does that…"

"Seriously Toph, I got it, okay! I didn't need you to sketch me a diagram of whatever it is they're…you know what, never mind. I 'm going to go before you burn any other images I don't want into my brain!" Sokka said with impatience as he pushed himself to his feet and made his way towards the beach house that was their temporary home while at Ember Island, Toph following closely behind and reiterating information the warrior would much rather not know.

Zuko remained seated for a moment, drawn into a three way net of confusion between Katara and Aang's actions, Sokka's apparent denial of the flirtatious nature of their training and Toph taking a perverse joy in knowing all along what was going on. Rather than sit beside the beach and watch the affectionately lingering touches the waterbender was using in her training of the Avatar, the former prince again shook his head and followed his two friends up the hill, putting as much distance between himself and the pair of teens standing in the pooling lake of water.

The drama playing itself out on the beach only a few feet away from the pair had not at all distracted teacher and student's attention from the task at hand as they continued with their bending ritual, Katara explaining the purpose, form and maneuver of the new waterbending method while Aang grew increasingly frustrated at his inability to grasp the fundamentals. The Avatar's disappointment only lasted however until Katara moved behind him and, as was her ritual, corrected Aang's stance.

"I still don't understand why I'm having such trouble with this," Aang had sighed in disappointment while desperately willing his heart to keep a steady rhythm as Katara pressed her body against his and moved his arms closer to his side.

"Like I said Aang," the beautiful water nymph said in a unmistakably suggestive whisper that sent a shiver down the young man's spine, "_you'll figure it out eventually_…" As she said this, Katara wrapped her arms around him from behind, pulling him closer to her while pinning his arms to his side. She rested her head on his shoulder and smiled enticingly at the blush that stained his features, from the tip of his arrow clear to the base of his neck. Aang was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe, and fought even against the dizzying feeling that overtook his body.

Stealing a shy glance at the young woman's face, he swallowed hard, trying to sort out all the evocative training exercises today. While certain he understood what Katara was implying this entire time, Aang was torn between the desperate hope that his heart wasn't over-reacting to Katara's actions, and the damning fear that it was. Yet one look at the expression painting the beautiful features of his sifu and he understood in complete clarity everything she had been doing to him today, and why.

Turning sideways to gaze at her expressive eyes, a playfully loving smile stretched across his face as his hopes trumped his fears and he relaxed back into Katara's tight embrace. "Yeah, you're right Katara…I think I finally understand."

Laughing with mischievous joy at the tentative words coming from the Avatar's hopeful lips, Katara pressed a light kiss to his cheek, causing the burning blush to fully engulf Aang's face. Moving to nestle her chin back in its perch on Aang's shoulder, Katara whispered, "It's about time," before leaning her head against his.

Some training, it seemed, took longer to sink in than others.

-End

A/N: Story takes place sometime while the group is on Ember Island. Just ignore EIP for this fun little fluffy romp. It kind of came to me when I saw Cave of Two Lovers and Katara correcting Aang's stance with the octopus form. Made me wonder what would happen if she purposely taught him the wrong stance just to be able to touch him. I just thought this was a fun story.


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